Today, more than ever, questions have arisen : which path of development will Mankind follow ? How will Culture and Art evolve ?
Critique of Postmodernism
To answer these questions, first of all, we must leave in the past the era of the hated Postmodern, which led us to a deplorable result. It was an era built on the denial of beauty. On the idea that is still hovering in the circles of “experts” and critics of art: painting is dead, over, and everything that could be done has already been drawn.
The Postmodern era is characterised by the separation of the Artist-Creator and his work. In the language of theorists, everything is Art and anyone can be an artist. This means that the real author is dead, a personal style is impossible and unnecessary. There is nothing new, everything has already been done, everything is a repetition (remix) or irony at best.
The Timelessness of Painting
To answer the questions posed at the beginning, it is necessary to understand the significance of painting. Not only in the history of art, but also in the history of Mankind! Painting is the only medium to chronologically “write” the history of our presence on Earth. The most effective way to display the evolution of Humanity. Starting with rock paintings, ending with modern masterpieces. And all because painting does not need translation. It is understandable in all languages.
The Commoditization of Art
What happened? Why did we stop believing in art? I will answer. Art has become a commodity. For the sake of the market. Everything became Art, but Art did not become everything! Today, any craftsman has been elevated to the rank of an Artist. There is disharmony, an imbalance between the material and the spiritual. People have forgotten that they came to this Earth to become more spiritual. We live in an era of value substitution, where all guidelines and basic concepts of previous eras about beauty have been swept away.
The Innate Nature of Beauty
Beauty is infinite, just like our universe! Beauty, our vision of Beauty and its understanding is the highest Good granted to Man from above. Only Art – true Art – can help a person rise, grow and become more spiritual, get closer to his Creator. One of the most famous postmodern protagonists, Marcel Duchamp, predicted the return of Painting to its dominant place in 100 years. But he himself challenged society, all the laws of beauty and true art, presenting the urinal as a work of art. So did his associates and successors of his ideas, who came up with Conceptual Art. But beauty does not need a concept, a summary or explanation. For centuries, people have been able to see the true beauty and admire the masterpieces, without having to have the concept of the work explained. Not a single person felt like a fool in front of a masterpiece, because the true divine beauty itself clearly speaks to the viewer.
A Call for a New Artistic Era
I, Alexander Beridze, a visionary artist, proclaim a new Era, a new turn in the spiral of development of Art. I proclaim the Return to Beauty. A return to the true Beauty that we know from the ancient era to the beginning of the Postmodern era. A return to beauty, which was sung by different generations of brilliant artists. Return to the beauty of the artistic frame, gesture, composition, colours, shapes – everything that we see in the details and in the totality of a work of art.
The artist is inseparable from his work because he embeds a piece of himself, his soul into it. It is he who remains in the work for centuries and pleases the eye and soul of many generations of viewers. The time has come to change the existing paradigm and proclaim the Renaissance, the Renaissance, as it has already been in the history of art. Everything in our world develops according to the Hegelian spiral. Everything cyclically rises with each turn to a higher level.
Recall that painting in English sounds like “fine art”, in French – “beaux arts”, in Italian – “belle arti”. Fine, beaux, belle – the word Beauty is everywhere.
Manifesto for the Return to Beauty
I urge you to return this beautiful meaning to art. And may true beauty always be a guide for creators. We have heard the expression many times: “beauty will save the world.” But who will save Beauty? This is our task. The time has come to proclaim a new era in art, the Age of the Return to Beauty, which will give impetus to the change of society. I call on all who share my ideas and aspirations to join this Manifesto. Artists and Creators of the whole World, unite under the banner of Divine Beauty! Today, as we write the history of Man’s presence on Earth, let’s pen one of the most beautiful chapters in the History of Art and Humanity together!
Alexander Beridze
Alexandre Beridze is a French Russian artist who was born in Russia in 1975 into the family of the Russian artist painter, Fedor Kholenkov.
Since 2005 Alexandre Beridze has been conducting regular exhibitions. The most notable was the personal exhibition at the Adler Gallery in Paris in 2011, after which, Bertrand Saint Vincent, the Editor-In-Chief of the famous French newspaper “Le Figaro” wrote an article on the front page on March 8, 2011.
Alexandre Beridze works in the style of Expressive Abstraction.